Coloring Inside The Lines

I admit it...I'm a rule follower.

I use the crosswalk.

I read directions.

My books are in alphabetical order.

So are my spices.

I color inside the lines.

This last confession is important as I began painting. Because when you paint you have to stay within the lines. You make lines. You tape lines. You follow lines. You obsess over lines. Lines are everywhere.

While ugly on one hand, there's an interesting pattern that emerges on the other. Things start to fill in. Walls take shape. Corners are defined.

And when you get to a corner or above a door frame and you have to use the brush to fill in the space, you can't help but remember those drawing programs on your computer when you get to use the little paint brush - as opposed to the pencil - to sweep color across your screen.

And, of course, you hope the color that begins to appear on your walls is the one you imagined after comparing 526 different paint swatches. Heavy Cream or Cake Batter? And I don't mean to lick the bowl.

Edging, I'll admit, loses it's luster after about the third corner. And when you are painting multiple rooms the same color, edging gets, well, old.

Really old.

You just want to get to the roller. The magical paint can on the computer screen that will just blanket the wall in one fell swoop. You want to see it all, not just the 5x5 square you created around the light socket.

And, in this case, your mother is dying to see the end result. Because she happened to visit the day before you started to put color on the walls. I promise it wasn't a way to torture her...it was just bad timing. The torture was bonus.

So mamacita...these are for you:

Master Bedroom in Lyndenhurst Spring Eve

Master Bedroom

Guest Bath in Forest Trail

Master Bath in Martinique Dawn

And then finally...the lines appear again. As you cross your fingers and pull away the blue tape...hoping above all else the lines beneath the tape resemble something of a straight line.

Because I am a rule follower. You are supposed to color inside the lines.